Okay, here's the thing, I bought this Macbook Air at a thrift store a couple days ago, everything was fine when I checked, I could access the Mac and surf the web, but I noticed something when I tried to do get to "General" in settings, I needed an administrator name and password to get there, I looked more into this and I also can't install software on the computer. After doing some researching, this was the case of the Mac being used for school ( or it being a school computer ) so I went back to the place where I got the computer, and the store owner said it was non-refundable and someone brought it in a while back. I later found a fix for this, I could boot the Mac by holding command+R and factory reset it, but it requires a "firmware password", I have no idea how to get it, any suggestions?
I've also read that pulling out the ram and reinserting it might reset or fix this, but I'm not sure if the Mac is "old enough" for that to work, thanks in advance for any help.
Best Answer
Schools and other enterprise setups often will set a firmware password to prevent things just like this from happening. If your Mac was manufactured before late 2010 (Apple menu > About This Mac), you may be able to reset it by pulling out the RAM. I'd recommend that you follow the instructions outlined here and use disassembly guides from iFixit.
Otherwise, your Mac is locked and cannot be recovered without proof of purchase. In terms of ethics, I'd recommend trying to figure out what school it came from and contacting them about this, as this is considered stolen property.